COURTESY THE JEWISH MUSEUM
Gladstone Gallery, which has outposts in New York and Brussels, announced today that, going forward, it will represent Ian Cheng, the American artist who currently has his first solo U.S. museum show up at MoMA PS1.
“We are honored and excited to work with Ian at this pivotal moment in his career,” Barbara Gladstone said in a statement. “Ian’s exceptional current exhibition at MoMA PS1 speaks to the transformative and forward thinking nature of his work, and we’re thrilled to support the continued exploration of his practice. We are eager to build upon the incredible momentum Ian has already gained in his career well into the future.”
The 33-year-old artist has had a solo shows at institutions such as the Migros Museum in Zurich, and this fall will have another at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Cheng was previously without formal gallery representation in New York, and is on the artist rosters of London’s Pilar Corrias gallery, and Standard (Oslo), in Norway.
Cheng’s practice often involves simulations in a environment that can resemble in some ways, a video game. The work can feature computer-animated free-flowing narratives with several potential outcomes, but without any agency on behalf of the viewer, and the Gladstone release notes that he uses “a hybrid mix of research in video game design, improvisation and cognitive science.”
When a work of his was included in a group show at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., for example, Cheng was alerted that a figure in his simulation had been immobile for hours. The curators were worried the work needed to be fixed but, while a solitary figure was admittedly a little dull, this was not a bug. It was just one possible way that figures in a work by Cheng could act out their story.
Gladstone did not provide any details as to when Cheng would be having his first show with the gallery. His exhibition at PS1, “Emissaries,” is up until September 24.